The National Constitution Review Conference begins today:1st-5thMarch

The Constitution Review Commission (CRC) is hosting a 5-day National Constitution Review Conference before a gathering of 2000 people, including His Excellency John Mahama, the Vice President and His Excellency the President of the Republic of Ghana, Prof. John Atta Mills who will address the Conference alongside Prof. (Emeritus) Albert Kodzo Fiadjoe, Chair of the Constitution Review Commission.

The theme of the Conference is 'The Constitution: Our Identity'.

To attend the conference, you would have to register and print out your ticket.

Airing live on GTV, the Conference will serve as a climax to the CRC's consultations with the people of Ghana, opening to national debate the 75,000+ ideas submitted by Ghanaians on the matter of the Constitution.

• Experts will have critical discussions on the various suggestions for review.
• Our national experiences and issues will be compared with international comparative experiences and best practices.
• Every citizen will have the chance to participate in re-crafting the Constitution

The final recommendations of the Commission will be largely based on the outcomes of the Conference so don't hesitate: register NOW to participate in this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to shape the blueprint upon which the future of Ghana will be based.

A full programme for the Conference can be downloaded here: http://bit.ly/eMEpUN.

Conference Objectives

1. To serve as a representative national platform where the over-75,000 submissions received and processed will be tabled for national debate.
2. To bring together persons with expertise and experiential knowledge on the various thematic areas implicated by the submissions to assist the conference to arrive at durable solutions and options for constitutional redesign.
3. To provide an opportunity to relate national experiences and issues with international comparative experiences and best practices.
4. To begin to build national consensus around the issues tabled for discussion at the conference.

Conference Participation

Participants are being drawn from public, private and civil society organizations as well as individuals. Identifiable groups such as Political Parties, Youth groups, Gender groups, Persons with Disability, Children, Professional Bodies and Associations, Government Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), the Private Sector as well as Eminent persons, Facilitators and National and International Consultants would participate.

Consultations So Far

So far, the Commission has undertaken the following levels of consultations:

• Community and District Consultations (Apr – Jun ‘10): all 170 Districts
• Follow-Up Community and District Consultations (Jul – Sept ‘10): all 170 Districts
• Regional Open Forums (Aug – Sept ‘10 ): all 10 Regions
• Regional Mini Consultations (Aug - Sept ‘10): all 10 Regions
• Formal Regional Public Hearings (Aug - Sept ‘10): all 10 Regions
• National Mini Consultations (Aug – Oct ‘10): 56 Interest Groups & MDAs
• Diaspora Consultations in Kenya, Nigeria Botswana, Egypt and South Africa (Nov ‘10)
• Written Submissions sent to the Commission from all over the world (Jan – Dec ‘10)
• New Media/Social Media (website, Facebook and Twitter) entries from all over the world (Mar – Dec ‘10)
• Special Consultations with Sitting and Former Presidents, Vice Presidents, etc (Dec ‘10 – Feb ‘11)
• SMS Text-In Campaign across all Networks (Ongoing)
• Phone Calls and Text Messages from all over the world (Jan – Dec ‘10)

Submissions So Far

The over 75,000 submissions received so far have been synthesized into 12 thematic areas. These have been further broken down into some 77 sub themes and about 548 issues. These will be tabled for debate at the National Constitution Review Conference.

Contacts

Telephone: +233 302 771185 / +233 302 771184

Mobile: +233 20 1635322
Fax: +233 302 771188
Email: info@crc.gov.gh
Website: www.crc.gov.gh
Facebook: facebook.com/CRCgh
Twitter: twitter.com/CRCgh

To contribute to the issues before and during the conference, send a blank text to Short Code 1992 from all Networks to receive and answer any of the top 25 questions (0.50GP/text).

source: www.crc.gov.gh